Help Installing Umnitza Angel Eyes
 

I'm not finding any good write-ups with pictures for this particular application. I bought the Umnitza Predator Orion V2 Angel eyes off eBay from lightwurkz. I called Umnitza and they recommended to me for my 2000 X5 4.4i (with Xenon) that I glue them against the lenses since there are no clips for this model year. These are my headlights:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZSzgiY8hL.jpg

So - do you glue them against the actual HID lenses themselves or the plastic lens pieces that pop out?

http://www.xoutpost.com/images/articles/199/parts1.jpg

If so - which side? I am about to do this upgrade along with the LED turn signals and want to make sure i do it right. I got a tube of DAP marine silicon glue from the hardware store - also what Umnitza recommended.

Any tips or suggestions?? All they sent me was this information regarding general installation. Anyone have one that's specific to our vehicles and preferably Umnitza rings? I looked on the how-to/faq section but all they talk about is removing the headlight assembly itself, and baking the headlight to remove the outer clear plastic lens.

1. Angel Eyes
2. Angel Eyes Retrofit

The post regarding the wiring does look helpful though however:


Angel Eyes Wiring Example - 2000-2003 X5

It would appear that the wiring harness for the GEN2 Predator Chromium V2 is a little different. The following still holds true:

Angel Eyes Wiring Example - 2000-2003 X5

Except replace brown with yellow and pink with white. There are no ballasts for the model I have. I did have to switch the bullet wires (red/black plugs into brown/white) from side to side once since the wiring is side specifc.

I chose a different location to mount the relay & ground:

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...18380299_n.jpg

The cover for the engine wiring harness was a bitch to get off. But once off it's easy to splice into the ECU wire and solder it together. There is a rubber grommet on the right side of the plastic box you can pierce to run your wire through. I also pierced the rubber grommet on the left side of the weather stripping near the hydraulic hood support and ran it under the rear engine bay weather stripping as suggested in the article above.

The rings lit right up when i put the key in the ignition and turn to postion 2. They are pretty damn bright! They stay on for a couple seconds after removing the key. Works for me :-)

Now I just need to pull headlight assemblies out. I figure while they are off the car before I bake 'em I will burn off the haze with some wax and my Porter Cable random orbital buffer.

I'm going to break the orange waffles out and go clear. I have amber SMD LED bulbs to replace the stock ones with along with the capacitors to prevent the bulb out OBD2 message. Hopefully I can fix my turn signal switch issue at the same time.

Here is an update on my install. Removing the headlights from the vehicle was pretty straight forward. I forgot to mark the top 8MM bolt positions before removal so I will need to re-aim the headlights after I put them back in.

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...55320846_n.jpg

I spent a considerable about of time cleaning the exterior of the headlight. I also tried to buff out the haze/pitting on the clear lens with my Porter Cable random orbital buffer on high using a variety of polishes / waxes / cleaners but this didn't really help. I am going to end up wet sanding and polishing them before I put them back on the car.

The angel eyes came with both big rings on one power unit and both little rings on the other so I switched them each to one big and one little and re-tested.

I had to break off the clips on the bottom of the small rings and then shave the stumps down using a utility knife. Otherwise you will not be able to get them to lay flat for gluing to the plastic circular waffles.

I removed the low beam bulb, all screws, and plastic pieces from the assembly. Baking the headlight at 250 for 15 minutes worked very well. I wore some dishwasher gloves to protect my hands when handling the hot headlight. Once cooled I covered the clear plastic lens with a garbage bag so it wouldn't get any dust in/on it. Good idea to do with the assembly as well if you are going to work on it later.

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...37961823_n.jpg

The black glue is really nasty and stringy. I got a little glob on my carpet which was a bitch to get out but resolve did the job. As I was removing the clear lens several globs got on the black plastic inner housing and worse the chrome reflective side marker piece. If this happens first wait for it to cool and then take a small ball of glue from the side and use it to pick up the globs. I made a big mistake by trying to clean the chrome piece off with rubbing alcohol. Basically it will take the mirror finish off and leave a black/mirror finish. These chrome pieces are VERY delicate and easy to scratch. So instead of having a ugly black spot I decided to improvise and black the rest of that side out up to the apex. I actually kind of like the way it looks - sort of custom / one-off and unique.

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...03215272_n.jpg

So if you F yours up too like I did you can go with my euro trash styling technique lol.

Breaking the orange side marker waffle out of the clear plastic lens was pretty straight forward. Just hook a screw driver under it and pry it out.

I decided that I will keep the clear circular waffle deals. Removing them I think would require more effort and get more glue strings everywhere. I am also paranoid about the chrome reflectors behind them. It will be easy and secure to glue them to the clear waffles. I also like the look.

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...62285482_n.jpg

The next challenge was to run the wiring. For the big ring side it is easy to just push back the waffle in the corner and slip the wire with the plastic connector piece intact. I had to loop the wire over the top of the ring otherwise the ring won't sit as flat on the waffle for gluing. The provided wire is not long enough so I will have to extend it (use 26 AWG). Sort of a bitch becuase you have to hack off the plastic connector piece and then solder on both ends, and apply heat shrink tubing. I was able to push a larger speaker wire in through from behind the xenon projector and get it to land where the AE wire is and then tape it to the larger wire and pull it through.

The small AE ring is a little different. You can't push the waffle back enough to fit the plastic connector piece so you have to hack it off so you can clear just the wire. You don't need to loop the wires over since they are inset on this ring. Then I used a metal craftsman pick to pull the wire back behind the projector. This wire will also likely need to be extended.

The three wire sets, once extended can then be run out of the existing rubber grommet.

Once I glue the rings and let it set I will do a final inspection/cleaning - wiping any fingerprints off the chrome with toilet paper and then spraying with compressed air. Cleaning any clear plastic with rubbing alcohol. Afterwords all that will be left to do is re-bake both the clear plastic lens and headlight assembly and squish it back together. I am going to add an additional RTV seal around the assembly once cooled t ensure there are no condensation issues.

Sort of a pain in the ass but I think the results will be pretty nice!

Looks very clean.

Gracias. Definitely labor intensive... I estimate it took me some 10-14 hours labor for removing and re-installing the headlamps, tear down, ring mounting/gluing, soldering wire extensions, wiring to the ECU/battery. But I am pretty slow :-) I waited 24 hours for curing each time I glued. They are definitely on there solid and no problems driving from Tahoe and Back.

Like a dummy I made the mistake of trying to clean the inside of passenger lens with rubbing alcohol and toilet paper. DO NOT DO THIS it is really delicate since it doesn't have the same coating as the exterior of the lens. I made some very fine scratches that are hardly perceptible but it still pissed me off that I know they are there. You cannot buy just the lens (I wish you could b/c then I would have to refinish them) only the entire closure. If you really f it up you can get one off eBay for relatively cheap and swap them out.

These AE's look great - they are bright as shit. I can basically drive at night with them alone. They give off a really nice clean and crisp blue light. IMHO they look better than even the newest stock AE's.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-y...208_233534.jpg

I am going to pull them once again to refinish the outer lenses and also wire in the capacitors for the 18 SMD LED Turn Signals I installed. I plan to do the same thing in the rear.

I ordered a sheet of light smoke Rvinyl tint (87% - reduces light transmission by 13%) to cover the headlights for protection after the wet sanding and polishing. This should also help to hide the fine scratches on the passenger side and I like the subtle tinted look. I plan on doing the rear as well.

Lastly the headlamp/hood gaskets for both sides need to be replaced since the part that wraps around the side near the turn signal area pretty much disintegrated so I am ordering new ones from ecstuning:

https://c1521972.ssl.cf0.rackcdn.com/img/btn-delete.gif https://c1552172.ssl.cf0.rackcdn.com/174473_x100.jpgGASKET
Brand: https://c1521972.ssl.cf0.rackcdn.com...uine%20BMW.gif
ES#: 173274
Mfg#: 63128386711



Ships in 1-3 days

$10.46 $10.46
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Brand: https://c1521972.ssl.cf0.rackcdn.com...uine%20BMW.gif
ES#: 173275
Mfg#: 63128386712



Ships in 1-3 days

$10.46 $10.46

I'm not a fan of how the high beam AE is smaller than the high beam itself. Looks like Umnitza just recycled E39 AE's.

Does Umnitza have a kit to correct that?

I agree that I think it would look better if it were flush mount with the black plastic housing. Also it would be more secure in my opinion. It still looks pretty badass in my opinion because what you really see (at least when they are on) is the lighted rings themselves. As long as the inside ring is larger than the outside you will get that BMW look.

For this model there is a lot of customization involved and it's a total pain in the ass. I'm still not all the way there but the hard part is done and I think in the end I will be happy with it and happy that i didnt' spend $1500 to get there.